We crossed the state line from Nebraska into the north-eastern corner of Colorado. I was still revelling in gratitude for the gifts offered to me and also anticipating finally arriving at our destination state when the Colorado landscape knocked my senses into a completely different reality.

Lucy had not prepared me for what I would encounter crossing into the abyss of raw essence that confronted my whole being. All around us were drought-ridden hills and fields of ‘dry, brown, scarce-to-nothingness’. Several expletives came tumbling out of my mouth as we entered a land where the beauty of the place was in its power to surrender one’s sense of destiny and ego into a rightly ordered humility.

Scattered signs of pocketed communities were evidenced by the occasional herd of cattle or horses and occasional buildings in the remote distance. Yet, no human life was noticeable out working in this vast landscape. No one except fellow travellers. Exits along the highway often read ‘no services’ and many exits led only to a field or to a gravel road. Occasionally, a paved road to somewhere came into view.

Unlike Nebraska where I could ask ‘what is the medicine of this land?’, here in northeastern Colorado, the raw-holy-power of this place left me feeling like I didn’t yet have the ‘right’ to ask such a question. Doing so presumed a personal authority inappropriate to the power of this land that could reduce me to nothing in a heartbeat. Most of that first hour was filled with little more than ‘oh my God’ every time I felt my senses confronted with the largesse and untamed power of this land’s spirit.

You may be wondering how this journey into the American Midwest relates to you. What does any of this have to do with improving your health, your happiness and your quest for harmony in your relationships? What does this have to do with the way you and I work together in your quest for healing and living a fulfilled and purposeful life?

Find out next time… for now, step outside and put your feet on the soil. Listen. Listen with all of your senses. Listen for a good 20 minutes with all your senses. Then write it down and notice what you wrote. Continue this practice for the next week.